Dallas topped the Giants and has left the Eagles in the dust
Dallas topped the Giants and has left the Eagles in the dust.
By Ashley Fox
Philly.com
Inquirer Columnist
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - So, the Eagles found out a crucial piece of information last night. They are chasing the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC East crown.
Uh, not really.
If the Birds had an ounce of fight left in them - and there is not a sliver of evidence to suggest that they do - they would point their viewfinder at the Cowboys and see a team that, while flawed, is on the upswing and pushing toward the playoffs. Yesterday, they took another step in that direction with a clutch 23-20 divisional win on the road over the New York Giants.
Of course, the Eagles put down their binoculars weeks ago. Their game against the Carolina Panthers tonight is merely a formality. It is one more X on the schedule. After tonight, it will be 12 down, four to go until this waste of another season is over.
Dallas, meanwhile, is talking about Miami. Not the Dolphins. The city. South Beach. Warm February weather. And yes, Super Bowl XLI.
How does that sit? The Eagles are going to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year since playing in Super Bowl XXXIX, and the hated Cowboys, with their adopted son Terrell Owens and their gunslinging young quarterback Tony Romo, just might be the NFC's representative in the biggest game of the year.
The Eagles got Jacksonville, Fla. The Cowboys are pointing toward Miami. Life is just not fair.
No one will mistake this Dallas team for the one that was populated by players named Aikman, Smith and Irvin, but it is one that, under the tutelage of a rejuvenated white-haired coach named Bill Parcells, is peaking at just the right time.
In a game they absolutely had to have in order to win the division, the Cowboys beat back the Giants and held their breath while new kicker Martin Gramatica booted a 46-yard field goal that split the uprights with a second left. The final score showed a three-point win, but it might as well have been 50, given that the two storied franchises are heading in such dramatically different directions.
For the Cowboys, it was their fourth consecutive win and fifth in six games since Parcells named Romo the starter after a humiliating home loss to the Giants 42 days ago. For the Giants, it was their fourth straight loss after starting the season 6-2, and it just might be enough to send the demonstrative Tom Coughlin and his emotionally wrecked players over the edge.
Dallas is 8-4. The Giants are 6-6. The Eagles got the help they needed; with a win tonight, they'll join the Giants at 6-6 in second place in the division. Not that it will matter.
No one is catching the Cowboys now.
Three of their four remaining games are at home. Only one - next week against the 8-4 New Orleans Saints - is against an opponent with a winning record. And there is that little rematch with the Eagles on Christmas night.
"We have a lot of football left, but that's a big step for us," Parcells said after beating the Giants. "I don't think that this is over by any means."
But it is.
Romo played his worst game of the season, and it still was enough to beat a talented, if not troubled, Giants team that welcomed several starters, including defensive end Osi Umenyiora, back to the lineup. Although he entered the game with the league's highest passer rating (110.8), Romo threw two interceptions and no touchdowns, and completed 20 of 34 passes for 257 yards.
But when the Cowboys needed it most, in the game's final 66 seconds after a Giants touchdown drive tied the score at 20, Romo played like his boyhood idol, Brett Favre.
On the opening play of the drive from the Cowboys' 32-yard line, Romo heaved a wobbly pass to tight end Jason Witten, who slid behind two Giants defenders and caught the ball at the 26. The 42-yard pickup put Dallas in field-goal range - and put Parcells' reputation on the line.
Last week, Parcells dumped Mike Vanderjagt, the most accurate kicker in league history, who had not been all that accurate in this his first season with the Cowboys. It was an expensive move - the Cowboys had given Vanderjagt a $2.5 million signing bonus in the off-season - and a risky one, considering that Gramatica had not taken a significant kick in more than two seasons.
Gramatica missed his first field-goal attempt of the day, a 44-yarder. But with the wind behind him kicking toward the opposite end zone, Gramatica made Parcells look good. Afterward, Parcells told the veteran kicker he had cemented his spot on the team.
"I'm still, like, riding high," Gramatica said.
So are the Cowboys. They have a two-game lead in the division and nothing but green in front of them.
"All these games keep seeming to get bigger and bigger each week," Romo said. "Now, it seems we're playing for playoff position."
"Right now," Owens said, "we put ourselves in the driver's seat."
Then Owens told a story about searching for Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey after the game. They are friends, share the same agent, and sometimes hang out in Miami in the off-season.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to meet again down in Miami," Owens said, grinning widely, "and he'll be watching us in the Super Bowl."
The Cowboys just might be there. No one in the NFC East is going to stop them.
By Ashley Fox
Philly.com
Inquirer Columnist
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - So, the Eagles found out a crucial piece of information last night. They are chasing the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC East crown.
Uh, not really.
If the Birds had an ounce of fight left in them - and there is not a sliver of evidence to suggest that they do - they would point their viewfinder at the Cowboys and see a team that, while flawed, is on the upswing and pushing toward the playoffs. Yesterday, they took another step in that direction with a clutch 23-20 divisional win on the road over the New York Giants.
Of course, the Eagles put down their binoculars weeks ago. Their game against the Carolina Panthers tonight is merely a formality. It is one more X on the schedule. After tonight, it will be 12 down, four to go until this waste of another season is over.
Dallas, meanwhile, is talking about Miami. Not the Dolphins. The city. South Beach. Warm February weather. And yes, Super Bowl XLI.
How does that sit? The Eagles are going to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year since playing in Super Bowl XXXIX, and the hated Cowboys, with their adopted son Terrell Owens and their gunslinging young quarterback Tony Romo, just might be the NFC's representative in the biggest game of the year.
The Eagles got Jacksonville, Fla. The Cowboys are pointing toward Miami. Life is just not fair.
No one will mistake this Dallas team for the one that was populated by players named Aikman, Smith and Irvin, but it is one that, under the tutelage of a rejuvenated white-haired coach named Bill Parcells, is peaking at just the right time.
In a game they absolutely had to have in order to win the division, the Cowboys beat back the Giants and held their breath while new kicker Martin Gramatica booted a 46-yard field goal that split the uprights with a second left. The final score showed a three-point win, but it might as well have been 50, given that the two storied franchises are heading in such dramatically different directions.
For the Cowboys, it was their fourth consecutive win and fifth in six games since Parcells named Romo the starter after a humiliating home loss to the Giants 42 days ago. For the Giants, it was their fourth straight loss after starting the season 6-2, and it just might be enough to send the demonstrative Tom Coughlin and his emotionally wrecked players over the edge.
Dallas is 8-4. The Giants are 6-6. The Eagles got the help they needed; with a win tonight, they'll join the Giants at 6-6 in second place in the division. Not that it will matter.
No one is catching the Cowboys now.
Three of their four remaining games are at home. Only one - next week against the 8-4 New Orleans Saints - is against an opponent with a winning record. And there is that little rematch with the Eagles on Christmas night.
"We have a lot of football left, but that's a big step for us," Parcells said after beating the Giants. "I don't think that this is over by any means."
But it is.
Romo played his worst game of the season, and it still was enough to beat a talented, if not troubled, Giants team that welcomed several starters, including defensive end Osi Umenyiora, back to the lineup. Although he entered the game with the league's highest passer rating (110.8), Romo threw two interceptions and no touchdowns, and completed 20 of 34 passes for 257 yards.
But when the Cowboys needed it most, in the game's final 66 seconds after a Giants touchdown drive tied the score at 20, Romo played like his boyhood idol, Brett Favre.
On the opening play of the drive from the Cowboys' 32-yard line, Romo heaved a wobbly pass to tight end Jason Witten, who slid behind two Giants defenders and caught the ball at the 26. The 42-yard pickup put Dallas in field-goal range - and put Parcells' reputation on the line.
Last week, Parcells dumped Mike Vanderjagt, the most accurate kicker in league history, who had not been all that accurate in this his first season with the Cowboys. It was an expensive move - the Cowboys had given Vanderjagt a $2.5 million signing bonus in the off-season - and a risky one, considering that Gramatica had not taken a significant kick in more than two seasons.
Gramatica missed his first field-goal attempt of the day, a 44-yarder. But with the wind behind him kicking toward the opposite end zone, Gramatica made Parcells look good. Afterward, Parcells told the veteran kicker he had cemented his spot on the team.
"I'm still, like, riding high," Gramatica said.
So are the Cowboys. They have a two-game lead in the division and nothing but green in front of them.
"All these games keep seeming to get bigger and bigger each week," Romo said. "Now, it seems we're playing for playoff position."
"Right now," Owens said, "we put ourselves in the driver's seat."
Then Owens told a story about searching for Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey after the game. They are friends, share the same agent, and sometimes hang out in Miami in the off-season.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to meet again down in Miami," Owens said, grinning widely, "and he'll be watching us in the Super Bowl."
The Cowboys just might be there. No one in the NFC East is going to stop them.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:52 PM
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